We held our fourth webinar of the year last week where we were once again joined by career coach and longtime CAC collaborator Julie Jansen. Julie led a session on First Impressions: Resumes and LinkedIn. When looking for a new job, making a strong first impression is essential. Writing a well crafted resume is still the most important thing you can to make the job search process feel like it's in your control, when so much else is out of your control. On top of that, more and more recruiters and employers are using LinkedIn to find candidates, or to confirm information presented on a resume.
You want to remember that a resume is a marketing document used to sell your skills, past experience and ability to be the best person for the open position. It should not be a regurgitation of everything you've ever done, but should be tailored for the specific job you are applying for. Highlight past experience that will be relevant to why you will be a strong candidate for the new job, and pull keywords from the job description itself into your resume for a higher chance of being picked up by ATS (Applicant Tracking Software).
On LinkedIn, it's important to have at the very minimum a presence on there which more or less lines up with information on your resume. Past positions and some description of accomplishments can confirm information on your resume, and is also a good way to have a professional presence should an employer Google your name. However the more you use LinkedIn, the more you can get out of it. Sharing updates on new certifications, or a promotion you received can be great to keep your network up-to-date on your professional life. And sharing industry related news articles or blogs you have written can help craft your professional persona you want to be seen by colleagues and potential future employers.
To see Julie's whole presentation, you can watch the archived recording here. We hope you can join us for our next webinar on May 1st for Julie's final webinar of the year on Networking: Unlock New Opportunities.
For more job search resources, check out: